he's a pianistes pianista;he wants to be a doctorquiere ser médico;Monday's a holidayel lunes es fiesta;two and two are fourdos y dos son cuatro;it's me!¡soy yo!;it was mefui yo;who wants to be Hamlet?¿quién quiere hacer de or ser Hamlet?;you be the patient and I'll be the doctortú eres el enfermo y yo seré el médico;if I were you ...yo en tu lugar ...;yo que tú ... (informal)

it's 3 May or the 3rd of Mayestamos a 3 de mayo;it's Thursday todayhoy estamos a jueves

(asking and giving opinion)ser

is it certain that ...?¿es verdad or cierto que ...?;it is easy to make a mistakees fácil cometer un fallo;is it fair that she should be punished while ...?¿es justo que se la castigue mientras que ...?

it is [possible] that

it is possible that he'll comees posible que venga;puede (ser) que venga;it is impossible to study all the timees imposible estar siempre estudiando;it is unbelievable that ...es increíble que ...;it's not clear whether ...no está claro si ...;it would be wrong for us to do thatno estaría bien que nosotros hiciésemos eso

(emphatic)ser

it's me who does all the worksoy yo quien hace todo el trabajo;it was Peter who phonedfue Peter quien llamó;why is it that she's so successful?¿cómo es que tiene tanto éxito?;¿por qué tiene tanto éxito?;it was then that ...fue entonces cuando ...

9(exist)haber

there is/arehay;what is (there) in that room?¿qué hay en esa habitación?

there's a spider in the bath

there is nothing more beautifulno hay nada más bello;is there anyone at home?¿hay alguien en casa?

there were two apple trees in the garden

there were six road accidents here last yearel año pasado hubo seis accidentes de tráfico aquí

I thought there would be problems

there must be an explanationdebe de haber una explicación;there being no alternative solution ...al no haber or no habiendo otra solución ...;let there be light!¡hágase la luz!;there are three of ussomos tres;there were three of themeran tres;after the shop there's the bus stationdespués de la tienda está la estación de autobuses

how much was it?¿cuánto costó?;the book is £20el libro vale or cuesta 20 libras;how much is it?¿cuánto es?;(when paying)¿qué le debo? (formal)

11(visit)

has the postman been?¿ha venido el cartero?;he has been and gonevino y se fue;I have been to see my aunthe ido a ver a mi tía;have you ever been to Glasgow?¿has estado en Glasgow alguna vez?;I've been to Chinahe estado en China

the postman has already been

12(in noun compounds)futuro

mother to befutura madre or mamá (f)

my wife to bemi futura esposa

13(in set expressions)

to be or not to beser o no ser

been and

you've been and done it now!¡buena la has hecho! (informal);that dog of yours has been and dug up my flowers!¡tu perro ha ido y me ha destrozado las flores!

you are to follow these instructions exactlyyou are not to touch thatno, YOU are to do it!this door is not to be opened

2(should)deber

he is to be congratulated on his workdebemos felicitarlo por su trabajo;am I to understand that ...?¿debo entender que ...?;she wrote "My Life", not to be confused with Bernstein's book of the same nameescribió "Mi Vida", que no debe confundirse con la obra de Bernstein que lleva el mismo título

he starred in the film "Blue Max", not to be confused with ... / his later film, ....

he was to have come yesterdaytenía que or debía haber venido ayer;he is to be pitiedes digno de lástima

3(will)

the talks are to start tomorrowlas conversaciones darán comienzo mañana;her house is to be soldsu casa se pondrá a la venta;they are to be married in the summerse casarán en el verano

4(can)

these birds are to be found all over the worldestos pájaros se encuentran por todo el mundo;little traffic was to be seenhabía poco tráfico;you weren't to knowno tenías por qué saberlo

5(expressing destiny)

this was to have serious repercussionsesto iba a tener serias repercusiones;they were never to returnjamás regresaron;it was not to beno quiso el destino que así fuera

she had always wanted to go to Russia, but it was not to behe dreamed of being an actor, but it was not to be

6(in conditional sentences)

you must work harder if you are to succeeddebes esforzarte más si quieres triunfar;if it was or were to snow ...si nevase or nevara ...

if I were you I would refuse

if I were to leave the job, would you replace me?si yo dejara el puesto, ¿me sustituirías?

the car is to be sold

"Ser" or "estar"?You can use "ser":

when defining or identifying by linking two nouns or noun phrases:

Paris is the capital of FranceParís es la capital de Francia

He was the most hated man in the villageEra el hombre más odiado del pueblo

Popular Conjugations

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